I've finally got some actual artwork that I can share from the book that I'm illustrating. It's just a concept piece, a speed-painting if you will. I have a segment of the book which takes place in a swamp at sunset, and needed to do some experimentation to figure out how I was going to approach the style, colors, mood, etc. My client sent me some images that he liked, so I based the color theme off of those for the most part. I think that the majority of this segment of the book will be mostly in silhouette, so it's going to be a challenge for me! Clarity of communication will be key in designing these upcoming pages! For now, I leave you with a little swampy goodness!

I have a blog?! Really! How quickly I forget about these things! Seriously, by the neglect I show my own blog you would think I have a commitment issue. Well maybe I do...but that's besides the point! I've really gotta make an effort to write in this thing more often. It is kinda relieving to be able to just sit down and write and know that probably no one is ever going to bother to read what I have to say!

So, that being said...what's new since I last wrote in this? Hmm...oh yeah, I've got my own house! I guess that's a big one. Also, I finally broke down and got a halfway decent cell phone + plan. I bought a Sanyo Incognito to work on Boost Mobile's network (which is really Sprint's network since it's CDMA), and I got their unlimited everything deal for $50 a month. It's a little steep, but comes with no corporate stings attached and no contracts, and to me, that's worth the extra bucks!

Work-wise, I'm in the middle of an illustration project for a client of mine. It's a children's book that I'm responsible for the layout and illustration of. I can't really say anymore than that, but it's going well, and I'm looking forward to having my artwork published! I suppose I've been published before...if you count television and DVDs as publishing, but this will be my premiere into the world of printed publications, so that's kinda exciting!

I've also started working out! Believe me, when you are sitting at a desk all day drawing or coding or whatever I end up doing all day, it feels good to get out and do some rigorous exercise! So I got a membership to the local Recreation Center where I can go lift weights and do cardio stuff to my heart's delight (pun slightly intended)! Also, I'm planning a visit back East at the end of April, so I'm really looking forward to that! All told, things are going well!

Also, I've migrated over to Artician.com (http://kevinyowell.artician.com), where I will be hosting my newest artwork rather than on DeviantArt. I'll probably still keep my DA account up and running for my animated stuff, but most of my new work will be in my gallery at Artician. Also, I'm still working on updating my website, which has taken on an 8-bit theme...and when I'm not busy working I will be finishing up the huge list of personal and home projects written on my marker board of project-dom:

I've been making updates to my website rather regularly. As soon as I figure out MySQL privileges I'll get WordPress going so I wont need to use blogger anymore. I've been working on a WP theme for Rapturous Design's blog, which should be just about ready to go. Now that I've got a little experience with that, it should not be too hard to do one for my own site...

Today is my girl's birthday! I sent her a package last week, hoping it would arrive in time (international shipping always takes forever), and it got to her this morning. Perfect timing! I love it when things run smoothly!

Speaking of things running smoothly, I better get to work...got about 30 frames of animation to ink today! Best get to it...

Yikes! So much has happened since my last post, I'm not really sure where to start! I finally got all of the payment from my oDesk work that I was doing. At last I have enough money to open a bank account with! It's about time! It's good to have money and not have to rely on other people for everything. I've also got a couple of animation projects lined up, one of which with someone I've done work for in the past. We will be converting a children's book to an animated short. That's about all I care to disclose about it for the time being, but the work should last till around July, so if it does, it'll be wonderful to have full-time work until then! Working from home is finally starting to catch on for me, so I thank God for that. He's continuing to provide me with work while our economy suffers.

In my spare time I've been working on my game, Celestica, improving upon my v1.0 release and preparing to release the latest update. I've added new enemies, a leveling system, and the ability to activate shields at will (so long as you have enough energy). It's really turning into a fun game! On top of all of that, I'm writing a script for the storyline, and a friend of mine is going to do some voice-over work for me. She's really good, so I'm looking forward to that, it will definitely kick the game up a notch. Who knows...by the time I'm done with it, I might actually submit it somewhere like Kongregate or Newgrounds. 

Another friend of mine on DeviantArt is trying to put together a puzzle block style game and I volunteered to help with the programming. It will be a good exercise for me, and if it turns out well (which I'm sure it will), there may be profit in it for all of us. Either way, I get to put my skills to use and learn new tactics for programming. 

Also, my friend's wife had her baby on the 4th, so the house has been in chaos mode for the last week! Everything went really well, I wont disclose any personal info here, but both baby and mother are healthy and happy.

I finally got around to picking up a pair of Chucks for the woman in my life, which are going to be turned into Charlie the Unicorn chucks! There's no stopping the vortex! I can't wait till they are done and I can take some pics to post up here. I'm sure she will love them <3

That's it for now, stay tuned for more insight into my rarely normal life!

So last night we decided to stop by the Buffalo Wild Wings in Meridian to see if it was finally open. It was! But not to the general public, they were having some kind of VIP event. However, the hosts at the door informed us that in the morning they would be offering FREE WINGS FOR A YEAR to the first 100 people in line. WELL...Free wings for a year is worth camping out in below-freezing weather for, so we rushed home, packed our tents, and came back to join the growing camp of troopers waiting for their wings! It was an awesome experience, hanging out in a long line of tents with the staff bringing us coffee, wings, donuts, Red Bull, and T-shirts throughout the night and into the morning! Luckily we had the foresight to bring a heater, and there were outlets, so we had a nicely warmed tent (it was around 80 all night inside!). Along with the wireless internet, we had a great time sitting in the tent and watching Star Trek through the night! As the morning rolled around, the Media showed up and started taking video and interviewing people for the News. The Owner was really accomodating to all of us who spent the night out on the sidewalk, and as we walked in the door at long last we were met by cheers from the staff and handed our booklet of free wing vouchers! We get six free wings a week, but that's just fine with me! And the best news? They are planning to open another one in Nampa, much closer to where we live!

This isn't just another new restaurant, this is a slice of Americana. B-Dubs is right up there with Apple Pie, the Fourth of July, and Major League Baseball, and the huge crowd of people camped outside overnight testifies to that fact. Long live B-Dubs!

Not a whole lot to report at this time, I finished some work for a client on oDesk, but haven't heard anything yet from my other client, so I'm waiting on that. In the meantime I've applied for other jobs on there and pray that I hear back from them. It's still cold here, we get snow occasionally, but it never lasts very long. The temperature has been fluctuating above and below freezing, so what snow we get melts off pretty quickly. My cat is severely lacking mental capacities...but he is sweet so I put up with his stupidity. I love him very much, he makes me laugh! Right now he's attacking a toy filled with catnip, which is quite out of the ordinary for him. He usually just lays around and sleeps. Being active is not his thing. However, he's been using his litterbox consistantly, so I am proud of him for that! Hard to believe I've had him for almost three months now. I'll have to have a cataversary for him next year!

Hoy! It has been a while since I last posted a entry on here. I've been keeping busy with work, that's right, work! It's absolutely wonderful, I really thank God for bringing me an abundance of work in this rough economy. All around here people are being laid off and having their hours cut, and I'm working. Praise be to God Most High! He truly does provide for us when we need it the most!
I've been too busy to get around to putting my Papaqui kicks up on eBay, but I'm not sure that eBay is going to be the best platform to sell them on. This past week I've gone out several times wearing my First Edition kicks and each time I get numerous comments about them! I'm going to have to print out business cards as soon as I get my website up and running so that next time someone comments I can hand then my card and be like "Visit my website yo."
I feel like I am in a very good place right now, and I've got only God to thank for it. Physically, mentally, spiritually, financially, I am in a very good place. A very good place indeed.